The author did not want his name to be publicized, and his grandson honored his wish by not mentioning his name on the title page. He refers to his grandfather as a humble Zaddik who was Rabbi for forty years in Hungary. There is a preface by R. Mordechai Yitzhak HaLevi Horowitz, son of the author, and an introduction by R. Pinchas Halevi Horowitz, the grandson of the author. On page 6 there is a small illustration just before the conclusion of the introduction.

R. Joel Moses Salomon (1838–1912), Erez Israel pioneer and founder of Petah Tikvah. He was born in Jerusalem. His grandfather, R. Solomon Zalman Zoref, and his father, R. Mordecai Salomon, were leaders of the early Ashkenazi community in Jerusalem. Salomon was educated at yeshivot in Jerusalem and Lithuania. He studied printing at Koenigsberg, East Prussia, and, on his return to Jerusalem, he and several partners established a printing press. In March 1863, they printed the first issues of the first Erez Israel periodical, Ha-Levanon (spelled by them Halbanon) edited by Jehiel Brill, to which R. Salomon contributed.

R. Salomon was active in the Ashkenazi community and strove to obtain for it a status equal to that of the Sephardi community and to make peace between its factions. He joined a group of young community leaders who wished to extend the scope of Jewish settlement in Jerusalem and even engage in agricultural work. Salomon was one of the founders of Jerusalem's Nahalat Shivah quarter (1869), one of the first to be built outside the walls of the Old City, and participated in the establishment of Me'ah She'arim and other quarters. He took active part in the Yishuv Erez Israel Association, which endeavored to purchase agricultural land for settlement. In 1877–78 he published the paper Yehudah vi-Yrushalayim ("Judea and Jerusalem"), in which he advocated plans for agricultural settlement and called for "action and deed." In the autumn of 1878 he was among the founders of Petah Tikvah; after the first settlers were severely affected by malaria, he helped establish the nearby settlement of Yahud and to attract to it scholars in order to establish a yeshivah there. After living there for seven years he returned to Jerusalem and took up his public work for the institutions of the old yishuv.

דף [2, ב-5]: מנחת אומר מנכדי המחבר [על המחבר, מאת ר' דוד יעקב פריעדמאנן]: "כעת מחמת שנתפרסם וידוע ... גמרנו להזכיר שם בעליו עליו". חלק א: ירושלם, דפוס יואל משה שאלאמן, בשנת ג'א'ו'ל'ה' ת'ה'י'ה' ל'נ'ו' א'מ'ן' [תרמ"ב]. 6, מ דף. ר4. חלק א:דף [1, ב]: דברי בן המחבר, ר' מרדכי יצחק הלוי "מילדי ק"ק אוהעל ... וכעת פעה"ק טברי'"; תחלת דיבר. מנכד המחבר, ר' פינחס ב"ר מרדכי יצחק הלוי: "ותהי ראשית מלאכתי ... בחוברות הקטנה הזאת ... כמעט א' משישים מרובי תורתו אשר המה בכתובים ביד אדאמו"ר הי"ו". חלק א:בשולי דף 6: לא יכולתי לבצע את מעשי לע"ע בחלק השני דהוא על חגים וזמנים דכולא שתא ... דברי המו"ל.